Wheat prices set to match previous records

14 January, 2011

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UK wheat prices are poised to match levels last seen in 2007/08, as the latest delivered price hit £229.50 per tonne in the north west this week. It had reached its highest point for the current crop year before Christmas at £219.

Prices stand at £220.50/tonne in East Anglia/London, £221.50/tonne in Northamptonshire and £224/tonne in Avonmouth this week. But contracts due to end in May are trading at £237/tonne.

Alex Waugh, director general, National Association of British and Irish Millers, said future pricing would depend on the harvest situation in the southern hemisphere, with floods in Australia and very dry weather in Argentina expected to have an impact. He said: "Bad news stories are keeping the market firm and it will stay that way until there are indications of what the 2011 harvest in the northern hemisphere are likely to be. The expectation is that the winter crop in North America will have been damaged by the cold weather."